advice on ebay bid retractions for my tbc auction

[anitract]

This is a bit of a rant...

I currently am in the process of selling my DataVideo TBC-1000 via the wonderful ebay. There aren't even any others listed & mine's in great condition, so I'm thinking that this will be easy. Auction was going good until I check my email today and see that the high-bidder retracted their bid citing "entered wrong price". Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with this but (1) he's been the high bidder for a while AND (2) there is only like 20 hours left. Couldn't he have at least notified me earlier?!?!

Now my whole auction is tainted, because the next highest bidder (who automatically became the high bidder once the guy retracted) decided to purchase a TBC new once he was outbid, which means that he wants to retract as well. Though he might well be liable, I'm not going to be a jerk and make him purchase it. So once he retracts, that will bring my auction down to square one - my opening price of $199.

Have any of you dealt with something like this? I'm not sure what to do. Cancel my auction & relist? See what it ends up at with only 20 hours to go? *sighs* Sometimes I hate ebay.

[Doramius]

How long was the guy a high-bidder who retracted first?

The second guy was outbid, so it's not his fault. Technically, eBay doesn't allow you to retract a bid unless it's completely erroneous (IE: $1mill. for $2.00 item), maybe the bid was placed by a minor (even that's difficult to get around), or some other extenuating circumstance. Take it up with eBay and they might follow up with it. What may end up happening is eBay will allow you to relist the item without charge and take action on it's own against the first retractor. Again, the second guy was outbid legitimately.

I've had issues like that myself and that's generally what happened. Again, take it up with eBay and you'll probably be able to relist for free. They'll take care of how they will handle getting their fees back.

[drjtech]

I took a look at your auction and by eBay's rules vipkingdom2 should be suspended:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/bid-retract.html

You made a typographical error and entered the wrong bid amount. For instance, you bid $99.50 instead of $9.95. If this occurs, re-enter the correct bid amount immediately after you retract your bid. If you do not place another bid, the retraction will be in violation of eBay's policy and could result in your suspension. Please review the retraction guidelines if you need to retract your bid.

Bids retracted within the last 24 hours of listing can be viewed as bid shielding, which is a serious violation of our policy.

I think he simply changed his mind and weasled out of his contract.

File a complaint against him.

-drj

[anitract]

I will do that. I'm just mad because I've been waiting for the auction to end. I really didn't think it would get as high as it did, but thought it was great that I'd be getting most of my money back. Then, all this happens right at the end. I'm filing a complaint as we speak.

[Doramius]

They'll be pretty quick on it. You can also do LIVE HELP, which is REALLY FAST.

[anitract]

Well, I retracted the next-highest buyer, so now the auction is back down to $199...if no one else bids on it by tomorrow, I'll probably end it and re-list it. Otherwise, I talked to the current high-bidder who is still interested. Anyone want a TBC? j/k

[anitract]

Actually, I decided to heck with it - I'm gonna let it roll till the end. Whatever it goes for, it goes for. I did file a complaint though. Maybe this guy's done it before & will get the smack laid down...

[lumis]

you've really got to watch out for this scheme.. people have been burned hard on it before..

lets say your item is worth $100, and it usually goes for about $100 on ebay.. you start it off at $10..

bidder 1 bids $125, but the current price is $10 since he is the only bidder
bidder 2 bids $150, making the item price $126 (or whatever incriment it should be)

now most everyone seeing this auction will bypass it because the price is a bit too high.

late in the auction bidder 2 decides to retract his bid, making bidder 1 the high bidder, but not at $100+, but at $10..

a very easy & effective scam.

i had this happen to me once, it happened with very little time remaining in the auction. i refused to sell the item because i knew someone was trying to con me.

[anitract]

Funny how I've been ebay-ing since 2000 or so and I've never encountered this before...but now that you mention it, it looks like an effective scam. I don't see how ebay can let you arbitrarily retract bids like that! It seems too open to abuse.

[drjtech]

late in the auction bidder 2 decides to retract his bid, making bidder 1 the high bidder, but not at $100+, but at $10..

That is known as "bid shielding", and as noted in my earlier post it is a serious violation of eBay policy.

-drj

[Doramius]

It's usually 2 people working together.

I have a new concept though. Why don't people try being honest when they use eBay? PROBLEM SOLVED!

Jerk-hole scammers.

[anitract]

Well, my auction ended about $30 less than the original high bidder. I'm satisfied and hope I saved someone NICE $50-100.

[lumis]

Well, my auction ended about $30 less than the original high bidder. I'm satisfied and hope I saved someone NICE $50-100.

hopefully a fellow member.